Senior Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Eknath Khadse on March 15 clarified neither he, nor his daughter, would be contesting the Raver Lok Sabha seat in north Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district in the coming general election.
Mr. Khadse, currently an MLC, was being touted as a possible candidate for the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition for the Raver seat in Jalgaon.
Earlier this week, the BJP, in its second list of candidates, announced its incumbent, two-term MP Raksha Khadse for the Raver seat. Raksha is Mr. Khadse’s daughter-in-law.
Soon after the BJP list, Mr. Khadse, along with his daughter Rohini Khadse, met with their party leader Sharad Pawar.
“Neither me nor Rohini will be contesting from the Raver Lok Sabha seat. I will not be contesting owing to health reasons. However, there are six-seven aspirants for this seat, which belongs to the NCP (SP’s) kitty in the opposition MVA alliance,” Mr. Khadse said.
Mr. Khadse’ refusal to contest ended speculation of a father-in-law vs daughter-in-law contest for the Raver seat.
At the same time, Mr. Khadse said that the contest for Raver would be a keenly fought one, while expressing confidence that the MVA’s candidate would win.
Once a stalwart BJP leader who was close to the late Gopinath Munde, Mr. Khadse was in the reckoning for the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s post following the BJP’s win in the 2014 Assembly election. However, he was edged out in favour of Devendra Fadnavis.
Land case
Mr. Khadse’s name had figured prominently in a case involving the purchase of a prime plot of land in Pune’s Bhosari area at throwaway prices.
Mr. Khadse was alleged to have acquired the plot of land by illicit means by abusing his position as Revenue Minister in the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government (2014-19). The incident had triggered Mr. Khadse’s fall from grace within the BJP besides prompting his resignation from the Fadnavis-led Cabinet in 2016.
After being denied a ticket in the 2019 Assembly polls and following the defeat of his daughter Rohini Khadse, Mr. Khadse has been vocal about his disenchantment with the BJP
He finally joined the NCP in 2020, remaining by Mr. Sharad Pawar’s side following the split in the party last year.
